Jouitnal of Rracticaij INFORMATION, Ailt, SCIENCE, MECHANICS, CHEMISTHY, and MANUFACTUHES
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lEntered at the.Post Office of New York, N. Y., ... Second CI.... Matter. Copyrigbt, 1900, b;- Munn '" Co.J A WEEKLY JOUItNAL OF rRACTICAIJ INFORMATION, AIlT, SCIENCE, MECHANICS, CHEMISTHY, AND MANUFACTUHES, Vol. LXXXIII.·-No. 20' NE"\V YORK, NOVEMBER 17, 1900. r $3.00 A YE.\ K. ESTABLISHED 1845. J 18 CENTS A COPY. Partially Completed Canal (August 1) at Entrance from St. Lawrence River. Large Hydraulic Dredge at Work, Showing Floating Discharge Pipe. Sectional View through Power House, Showing Arrangement of Turbines and GeneratoR. 'tD liBW 711,000 ROBBB POWBR PLAliT AT .ABSBli.&, OW YORX.-[See PBie 810.] J06 J tieutifit �metitau. NOVEMBER 17, 1 goo. the center, thus controlling all the cylinders of the man. The Sequoia and General Grant National Parks Itientifit �mtritllt. engine at once. are eaten into by private claims. In brief, the majority The chief engineer of one of the fastest of the of the trees are owned by men who have the right, most ESTABLISHED 1845 Atlantic liners recently informed us that although his and in cases the intention, to fell them. engines are equipped with one of the best types of gov The Calaveras Grove was discovered in 1841 by MUNN &; CO., EDITORS AND PROPRIETORS. ernor, he is so far distrustful of its efficiency that John Bidwell. and by 1870 the majority of the big PUBLISHED WEEKLY AT during a spell.of heavy weather he guards against dis trees had been located. One of the largest examples No. 361 BROADWAY, NEW YORK. aster by letting the stearn run down consideraiJly in in the Calaveras Gl"Ove was cut down in 1858; the iJark the boilers. While this precaution is a wise one. it is was 15 to 18 inches in thickness, and after stripping this TERMS TO SUBSCRIBERS after all but a compromise. The fact of the matter is off, the diameter of the trunk was found to be 25 feet One COPY. one year. for the United States. Canada. or liexioo......... $3.00 One COPY. one year. to any foreign country. postaJ,re prepaid . .£O 168. M. 4.00 that with the extrao!'dinary increase in the weight and at a height of 6 feet above the ground; it was 302 feet THE S('IENTIFIC AMERICAN PUBLICATIONS. horsepower of marine engines which is now taking high, It was found to be impossible to fell it by . .. .. $3.00 Scientlflc American (Established 1845) .. .. .. ....... ... .. a year. ordinary means, so the trunk was bored . .. place, the governor problem aS8umes increasing illl by pump SClentitic American Supplement (Established 1876) ...... ...... 5.00 .. ScientifiC American BuUding Edition (Established 1'885)... .... 2.50 portance. The captain wl.o finds hilllself in command augers of large diameter. This occupied twenty-two Scientific American Export Edition (Established l8io) .....••... 3.00 'l'be combined subscription rates and rates to foreign countries will of a big ship with an extraordinal'y reserve of power in days, five men being employed, and at the conclusion be furnished upon application. t Remit by postal or express money order. or by bank draft or check. its engine roolll is tempted to make use of it and dl"ive of heir labors it was found that the tree would not MUNN & CO.,361 Broadway, corner Franklin Street, New York. his ship at full pressure in heavy weather, and we shall fall, so two and a half days were consumed in driving see more of this as the titlle goes by and the compe in wedges; the men then retired for dinner, and a gust, NEW YORK. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17� 1900. tition for record passages grows keener. The demand of wind blew it over, Nature apparently wishing to for a device which will allow these engines to be driven prevent the hand of man from consummating this last WANTED-A MARINE ENGINE GOVERNOR. to their maximum capacity against a head sea grows act in a great tragedy of the forest. The bark was The accident to the engines of the ,. St. Paul" calls more pressing with evel'y high-speed liner that is used to form a room in the old Crystal Palace, at to mind the more serious disaster which several years floated. South Kensington. A cotillon party of 32 persons • I. I. ago overtook the" City of Paris," when she was run danced on the stump. Another tree, called "The ning in the service of the Inman and International THE SEA ROUTE AS A COMPETITOR OF THE SIBERIAN Mother of the Forest, " was 321 feet high and '137 feet to Line. There is this difference, among others, between RAILWAY. the fil'st branch. It is estimated that there were 537,- the two engine room wrecks, that while the pre There seems to be a decided diVision of opinion in 000 feet of sound inch timber in the tree. The "Father di�posing cause in the case of the "St. Paul" is said the Russian press as to the part which the TI'ans·Si· of the Forest" was about 400 feet high when standing, to be well known, in the case of the" City of Paris" it berian Railway is to play in the carriage of freight be and its circumference at its base was 110 feet. A nUIll will always remain a matter of doubt. It is supposed tween Europe and Asia. The optimistic press be-' ber of the living trees have been named, and most of that the propeller shaft of the "City of Paris" gave Jieves that the scheme will attract to itself a large por them are marked with marble tablets, way, and that the consequent racing of the engines tion of the freight which is /lOW carried by sea between There are l,aBO Big Trees in the Stanislaus or South caused the Illost extraordinary smash-up of cylinders, European and' Asiatic .ports. On the other hand, we Calaveras Grove, including" Smith's Cabin," in the iJeu:plates, and reciprocating parts which ensued. find the Novosti 'oecfaringthat all hopes of any con charred hollow of which a trapper lived for three years, According to the published reports of the officers of siderable revenue accruing to the road frol11 this sourc'e and where he occasionally also stabled his horse. T he ship, the wrecking of the engines of tile" St. are based upon a misunderstanditig of the situation. The" Caual Boat " is a decumbent tree. The upper Palll" was due to the loss of the propeller and parting It contends that the Siberian Railroad can never com side and heart have burned away; in the bottom of the shaft as the result of an encounter with a dere pete ISuccessfully, either in poiut of time or cost, with thousanus of young big trees have started. In the , lict. If the propeller did not strike a submerged ocean-going steamers, for the reaSOlJ that it takes forty Maripo�a Grove is a tree through which a road has wreck, it is quite possible that, as the ship is reported two days to carry freight from Irkutsk to Moscow by beeu cut. to have iJeen dl'iving into a head sea, the sudden sub rail, and that the. steamers are making the same rate Unfortunately, the Big Trees are exquisitely propor lIlersion of the propellers. when the engines were raq,. of speed at the present day. The question of time, tioned and are the noiJlest specimens which the bo ing, may have set up sufficient strain to cause the however, is not so seriou\! as is that of the cost of trans tanical world can offer, and for this and by reason of fract,ure of the sha(t. In any case, whatever was the �GrtatiQn, and the Ntl\'ostf claims tha,t in this respect theit' extreme age they ought to be protected from prellispol!ing ('ause, the immediate occasion of the also the railroad will find itself to be at a serious dis vandals. Many of the Big Trees are estimated to be wrecking of the engines, both in the" Paris" aud the ad,-antage. Thus, it is assulIJed that if the carriage of 3,600 years old, and 4.000 rings have beel) counted. "�t. Paul," was undoubtedly the running away of the freight between Hamburg aqd Port Arthur, a distance Under the most favoraiJle conditions these giants prob engines, due to the sudden reulO\'al of the load. of 6,000 miles, costs only abol1t one-two hundredth part ably live to be 5,000 years old, and even more. They 'l'he recent accident serves to emphasize once more ,of a cen(p�r·· podd ,of thirty-six pouuds per verst of seldom die natural deaths; they seem to be exempt the crying need that exists for the introduction of a two-thh;ds of a mile, then the freig:ttt 'per pood between from the diseases which afflict other trees. Their worst lIIarine engine governor that will govern: some device these two ports will amount to forty· five cents. As enemy is man; then comes tire, lightning, storms, and which will not merely a'ct when the propeller is lifted all:'ainst this rate by rail it seems that the rate by SE-a the giviug way of the ground on which they stana. clear of the water, but which will immediately .check from Hamburg to Vladivostock is only' eighteen centa Fossils show the Rig Tree to be the remnant of a once the speed when, by the total loss of the propeller or the per pood of thirty-six pounds. It is clal�led t'hat DumN'OUS family ;it is a direct or collateral descendant parting of the shaft, the load is ent.irely and pertna although this differenc�between the rail alld sea rates of ancient species.